Happy birthday, Grandmother Ruth!

10:04 PM, April 9, 2013 |

By Karen Gamble, Renaissance Mom

Today would have been my Grandmother Ruth’s 98th birthday. When I was a kid, she was my best friend and my champion. She died in 2000. I still miss her. At the end of third grade, I begged to go live with her until my family moved back to the States. My parents shrugged philosophically and let me go. That was a golden time in my life.

Grandmother Ruth told me my freckles were “angel kisses,” that I was her special girl, that I was her go-go friend. That meant we went-went to all the malls, flea markets, and Goodwills in the entire southern Florida area. She made the world’s best fried chicken and biscuits. Unfortunately, she also made fried okra.

Every child should have a grandparent who spends unrushed time with a child, who makes the kid feel like the most special and loved person on earth. My children are blessed with grandparents like these. I hope the same for your child.

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Karen Gamble is a journalist-turned-mom-turned-paralegal. She and her husband have a son in the third grade and a daughter who is a college sophomore. There are never enough hours in the day for all the fun she’s trying to have.